Section 3.3 Chemistry and Physics of Earth Materials

Head of Section: Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Heinrich

We investigate the chemical and physical properties of minerals and, by extension, the rocks that they make up. These investigations include detailed analyses of phase transformations and the reactions between different minerals. On a larger scale these investigations expand to include geochemical cycles and the significance of fluids and melts in the Earth’s crust, mantle, and subduction zones. For this purpose, we apply a variety of instruments with which we can study the behavior of minerals, rocks, fluids, and melts over a large range of temperatures and pressures ranging from the near upper crust to the lower mantle. These include special analytical instruments with which we can characterize geomaterials in great detail on scales ranging from millimeters down to Angstroms.
 

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Coordinated programs

FOR 741

DFG-funded Research Unit "Nanoscale Processes and Geomaterials Properties"

DFG-funded Emmy-Noether Research Group

"Melts and Fluids in Geomaterials: From First-Principles to Geological Processes"

SPP 1236

Projects within the DFG-funded priority program "Structures and Properties of Crystals under extrem high pressures and temperatures"